Echoes
Erza had always felt so alone. After she was taken to the Tower of Heaven, she found friends, but she was still alone. Nobody understood her. They were slaves. Nothing more than disposable trash to their capturers. Erza went by their rules everyday. She wanted to escape and be free. She did not want to be alone. She wanted to escape from her echoes. She sat in her cell night after night hiding her tears from the others. When she was finally able to escape from her prison, Erza found Fairy Tail. Rob had told her about them before he died. She wanted to get stronger. She wanted to save lives. Erza never wanted to see another lonely person. So when she saw Lucy crying alone one night, she knew she had to do something.
"Lucy?"
The blonde girl looked up at Erza and tried to wipe away her tears.
'Hiding your tears...like I did...' Erza thought sadly as she took a seat beside the girl.
"Why are you crying Lucy?"
"No reason..."
"It's okay to cry you know."
"But it shows I'm weak and you guys see me being weak all the time. Just today I couldn't help you guys at all! All I'm good for is being bait..." Lucy mumbled the last part into her hands. Erza sighed and pulled Lucy close.
"Lucy showing your tears around us is being strong...and that is something that has been hard for me to do."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Thank you Erza." Lucy threw her arms around Erza and cried into her shoulder. Erza wrapped her arms around the younger girl and let her own tears fall. She had always been so alone with her echo as her only company. She finally found people who cared. She rarely ever heard that echo anymore. She had Lucy and all of her other friends in Fairy Tail.
"Can we go to the beach tonight Erza?"
"Of course we can Lucy. After all it is a beautiful night." Erza threw Lucy over her shoulder and Lucy giggled at the red head's actions. Lucy loved when Erza goofed off like this. It made her forget that she was alone once. Their shadows and echoes haven't haunted them since the day they met and they wouldn't have it any other way.